MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DAY 2015

OMNI

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DAY, JANUARY 19, 2015.

Compiled by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace and Justice.

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Contents January    2015

EVENTS IN FAYETTEVILLE 2015

  Northwest Arkansas MLK Council - News & Events for January 19, 2015

www.nwamlk.org/news-events/

Cornel West, Radical King

Radical King, Google Search

King’s Central Beliefs

Leonard Eiger, “The World House” in King’s Where Do We Go
    From Here?

King’s Economic Beliefs

King, Economic Inequality, Poverty, Capitalism Google
     Search, January 12, 2015

A Freedom Budget for All Americans

King on US Imperialism, Militarism, Endless War

   Break the Silence on Militarism,   See 2013 and 2014
    Newsletters

Review of Film Selma

  The Shalom Center

Who Killed Martin Luther King, Jr.?

William Pepper’s The Execution of Martin Luther King, Jr.
     (rev. also 2013)

EVENTS IN FAYETTEVILLE

  Northwest Arkansas MLK Council - News & Events for January 19, 205

www.nwamlk.org/news-events/

Northwest Arkansas Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Council

News & Events

Monday, January 19, 2015

MLK Dream Keepers’ Community Service Programs

Youth Prayer Breakfast & Activity

University of Arkansas Janelle Y. Hembree Alumni House

 491 N. Razorback Rd. ~ Fayetteville, AR, 8 a.m.

The purpose of this event is to allow youth to come together in prayer and reflect on how Dr. King's dream has impacted their lives. There will be several youth speakers discussing freedom, equality, and justice for all.  The youth will go to the University of Arkansas HPER building at 9:30 a.m. to engage in recreational games such as basketball, volleyball and soccer.  Sponsored by the NWA MLK Council, UA Intramural Sports, and Intercollegiate Athletes.

MLK March/City Award Program

Walton Arts Center Parking Lot ~ Fayetteville, AR, 11:15 a.m.

Inclement Weather Location ~ University of Arkansas Union ~ Verizon Ballroom

The City of Fayetteville will honor a city employee that exhibits the spirit and legacy of Dr. King.  The march will begin at the Walton Arts Center parking lot and end at the Arkansas Union at the University of Arkansas. In case of inclement weather, participants will meet at the University of Arkansas Union, Verizon Ballroom.  This event is sponsored by the City of Fayetteville and NWA Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Council.

Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

University of Arkansas Union ~ Verizon Ballroom, Noon

"Our lives begin and end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Join us for this candlelight vigil to honor and celebrate the life of Dr. King.  The guest speaker will be Eddie Armstrong, Arkansas State Representative, District 37.  This event is sponsored by the Associated Student Government of the University of Arkansas.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Reception

Arvest Bank Lobby, Downtown Fayetteville, 2:00 p.m.

The speaker will be Virgil Miller, Sr. Vice President, Group CRA Director, Arvest Bank.  Music will be provided by the St. Joseph Angel Choir and the Holcomb Honor Choir.  The winners of the Yvonne Richardson Center Essay Contest will also be announced.  Refreshments will be served.  This event is sponsored by Arvest Bank.

Arvest Diversity Reception

19^th Annual Recommitment Banquet

Fayetteville Town Center

15 West Mountain ~ Fayetteville, AR, 7:00 p.m.

The Northwest Arkansas Martin Luther King, Jr. Council presents "A Banquet fit for a King".  Our keynote address will be brought by Keith Jackson, football color analyst for the Arkansas Razorbacks Sports Network and president of P,A,R,K. Inc. in Little Rock, AR. In addition, the MLK Scholarships will be awarded and the 2015 Salute to Greatness honorees will be recognized for outstanding community service.

The honorees are:

·         Lifetime Achievement Award recipient is Dr. Eddie W. Jones

·         Ernestine White-Gibson Individual Achievement Award recipient is Dr. Stephanie Adams

·         Rodney Momon Youth Award recipient is Ayana Gray

·         Rev. J.A. Hawkins Posthumous Award recipient is the late Jonathan Nelson

·         Corporation of Year Award recipient is Procter & Gamble

The Banquet is now SOLD OUT!

RADICAL KING

The Radical King.  Written by Martin Luther King, Jr.   Edited by Cornel West.    Published by: Beacon Press, Jan. 2015.

Pages: 320

ABOUT THE BOOK ABOUT THE BOOK PRAISE  EVENTS

Synopsis|Excerpt  http://www.randomhouse.com/book/239755/the-radical-king-by-martin-luther-king-jr

A revealing collection that restores Dr. King as being every bit as radical as Malcolm X.

“The radical King was a democratic socialist who sided with poor and working people in the class struggle taking place in capitalist societies. . . . The response of the radical King to our catastrophic moment can be put in one word: revolution—a revolution in our priorities, a reevaluation of our values, a reinvigoration of our public life, and a fundamental transformation of our way of thinking and living that promotes a transfer of power from oligarchs and plutocrats to everyday people and ordinary citizens. . . . Could it be that we know so little of the radical King because such courage defies our market-driven world?” —Cornel West, from the Introduction

Every year, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is celebrated as one of the greatest orators in US history, an ambassador for nonviolence who became perhaps the most recognizable leader of the civil rights movement. But after more than forty years, few people appreciate how truly radical he was.

Arranged thematically in four parts, The Radical King includes twenty-three selections, curated and introduced by Dr. Cornel West, that illustrate King’s revolutionary vision, underscoring his identification with the poor, his unapologetic opposition to the Vietnam War, and his crusade against global imperialism. As West writes, “Although much of America did not know the radical King—and too few know today—the FBI and US government did. They called him ‘the most dangerous man in America.’ . . . This book unearths a radical King that we can no longer sanitize.”

Radical Martin Luther King Jr., Google Search, January 19, 2015.

1.   4 Ways Martin Luther King Was More Radical Than You ...

thinkprogress.org/politics/.../martin-luther-king-radicalism...

ThinkProgress

Jan 20, 2014 - Martin Luther King, Jr. has become a national saint, but his more controversial views have been buried over the years.

2.   The Forgotten, Radical Martin Luther King Jr. - National ...

www.nationaljournal.com/.../the-forgotten-radical-marti...

National Journal

January 20, 2014 Martin Luther King Jr. was not just the safe-for-all-political-stripes civil-rights activist he is often portrayed as today. He was never just the "I ...

3.   Martin Luther King Was a Radical, Not a Saint | Peter Dreier

www.huffingtonpost.com/.../martin-luther-king-was...

The Huffington Post

Jan 20, 2013 - He believed that America needed a "radical redistribution of... ... Today Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is viewed as something of an American saint.

4.   The radical gospel of Martin Luther King | Al Jazeera America

america.aljazeera.com/.../martin-luther-kingsocialismantiimperi...

Al Jazeera

Jan 20, 2014 - Specifically, there are three pillars of the radical gospel of Martin Luther King Jr. that we should not allow holiday remembrances to whitewash: ...

5.   radical Martin Luther King quotes

mlk.newgreyhair.com/

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Why I am Opposed to the War in Vietnam.” Sermon. (1967) "SPIRITUAL DEATH," says the reverend. I usually don't comment on these ...

6.   Cornel West on 'The Radical King' - Chicago Tribune

www.chicagotribune.com/.../ct-prj-martin-luther-king-r...

Chicago Tribune

4 days ago - The writings of Martin Luther King Jr, seen here at a 1967 peace rally in New York, have been collected by Cornel West in "The Radical King," ...

7.   Dr. King, Forgotten Radical - The American Prospect

prospect.org/article/dr-king-forgotten-radical

The American Prospect

Apr 4, 2008 - Long before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s death, America began to forget his ... Up until then, King had been eyed as a hasty radical out to push ...

8.   Images for Martin Luther King RadicalReport images

More images for Martin Luther King Radical

Searches related to Martin Luther King Radical

martin luther king radical quotes

martin luther king speech poverty

martin luther king jr and politics

martin luther king equality quotes

SUBVERSIVE PEACEMAKING

MONDAY, JANUARY 20, 2014

Honoring Dr. King... Building The World House

Dear Friends, http://www.thinkoutword.org/wp-content/uploads/world-house-MLK.pdf

Each year around the time of Martin Luther King Jr's birthday I celebrate his life and works by revisiting one of his essays, speeches or sermons.  I spend time with the document, trying to come to a deeper understanding of Dr. King's state of heart and mind, and the prophetic message he is sending.

This year I chose The World House [a chapter in Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?], having read it before, and finding it the perfect choice for Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action's January events honoring Dr. King.  After all, here we are so many years since Dr. King wrote this essay, and we have a long way to go in reaching the goals he has set for us.  The very walls that hold up our World House are weakening, due in large part to the actions of the U.S. in the world. Carol Bragg, in the introduction to The World House at thinkoutword.org, sums it up best (for me):

In “The World House,” Dr. King calls us to: 1) transcend tribe, race, class, nation, and religion to embrace the vision of a World House; 2) eradicate at home and globally the Triple Evils of racism, poverty, and militarism; 3) curb excessive materialism and shift from a “thing”-oriented society to a “people”-oriented society; and 4) resist social injustice and resolve conflicts in the spirit of love embodied in the philosophy and methods of nonviolence. He advocates a Marshall Plan to eradicate global poverty, a living wage, and a guaranteed minimum annual income for every American family. He urges the United Nations to experiment with the use of nonviolent direct action in international conflicts. The final paragraph warns of the “fierce urgency of now” and cautions that this may be the last chance to choose between chaos and community.

I hope you, too, will read The World House as a fitting meditation honoring Dr. King, and that you find something for your journey.  May it move you just a little bit out of your comfort zone and may you find new ways to help build The World House.
In Peace,
Leonard  [A version of this essay was published in Ground Zero Jan. 2014.   The Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action in Poulsbo, WA 98370 permanently protests the Trident nuclear submarine base at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor.  –Dick]

The World House

by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Some years ago a famous novelist died. Among his papers was found a list of suggested plots for future stories, the most prominently underscored being this one: “A widely separated family inherits a house in which they have to live together.” This is the great new problem of mankind. We have inherited a large house, a great “world house” in which we have to live together—black and white, Easterner and Westerner, Gentile and Jew, Catholic and Protestant, Moslem and Hindu—a family unduly separated in ideas, culture and interest, who, because we can never again live apart, must learn somehow to live with each other in peace.

Click here to read the rest of The World House...

POSTED BY LEONARD EIGER AT 3:54 PM NO COMMENTS: LINKS TO THIS POST  

      

recapturing the promise of the civil rights movement in the struggle for economic justice today

by paul le blanc and michael d. yates.    monthly review p, 2013.

topics: economic theory, political economy, social movements  places: americas, united states

choice outstanding academic title

releasedate: august 2013

also available as an e-book

price: $18.00quantity:    

while the civil rights movement is remembered for efforts to end segregation and secure the rights of african americans, the larger economic vision that animated much of the movement is often overlooked today. that vision sought economic justice for every person in the united states, regardless of race. it favored production for social use instead of profit; social ownership; and democratic control over major economic decisions. the document that best captured this vision was the freedom budget for all americans: budgeting our resources, 1966-1975, to achieve freedom from want published by the a. philip randolph institute and endorsed by a virtual ‘who’s who’ of u.s. left liberalism and radicalism. now, two of today’s leading socialist thinkers return to the freedom budget and its program for economic justice. paul le blanc and michael d. yates explain the origins of the freedom budget, how it sought to achieve “freedom from want” for all people, and how it might be re-imagined for our current moment. combining historical perspective with clear-sighted economic proposals, the authors make a concrete case for reviving the spirit of the civil rights movement and building the society of economic security and democratic control envisioned by the movement’s leaders—a struggle that continues to this day.

for an in-depth discussion of the history of the freedom budget and the need for a new freedom budget, click hear to listen to paul le blanc and michael d. yates on cbs newsradio 1020 kdka with chris moore.

below is a video of paul le blanc (with activist kali akuno) discussing the prospects of a new freedom budget on the real news network

invaluable for restating the influence of the american left on king’s views and enriching the historical record.

—library journal

this remarkable book brings back into view a radical vision for victory within the mainstream … historians of american social movements will find this book hugely useful.

——counterpunch

an engaging history that not only lays out the hopes and promises of the civil rights movement, but also reveals the crucial role of socialists in that struggle.

——international socialist review

a valuable contribution, because it teaches today’s generation how mass civil disobedience won a historic victory—and just as important, how the need for political independence is key to preserving and moving beyond those gains to a socialist conclusion.

——against the current

in this book, paul le blanc and michael d. yates rescue the freedom budget proposed by civil rights leaders in the 1960s from an unjustified historical obscurity. and they rightly see in the freedom budget a model of the kind of program that could unite american progressives and help restore national prosperity and democracy in the age of occupy.

—maurice isserman, professor of history, hamilton college; author, the other american: the life of michael harrington

An Act of State The Execution of Martin Luther King  FEBRUARY 11, 2003

An Act of State

Review by DOUGLAS VALENTINE  Counterpunch, Feb. 11, 2003

Bill Pepper’s book, An Act of State: the Execution of Martin Luther King (Verso, 2003), is a book whose time has come. It is required reading for anyone interested in how they illegitimate Bush regime will wield its ill-gotten power, not against Iraq, but against dissenters here in America.

An Act of State tells the story of how Martin Luther King was killed, not by James Ray, a bumbling patsy, but by a Memphis policeman in league with the Mafia, backed by soldiers — some armed with high-powered rifles, others with cameras to film the event — in a special Military Intelligence unit. The story is broad and deep and implicates high-ranking officers in all the American intelligence and security branches. And it stars Raoul, the assembly line worker now living undergovernment protection. Raoul guided James Ray after his prison escape to a bathroom in a seedy Memphis hotel, above a greasy spoon cafe owned by a sad sack named Loyd Jowers, a creepy old white man having sex with Betty, a 16-year-old black girl. Betty, they say around Memphis, got hooked on drugs and had several illegitimate kids.

Pepper, who resides in Cambridge and spends his time practicing law in United States and the United Kingdom, assembles Jowers and Betty and about 70 other witnesses to make a convincing argument that Jowers and known and unknown members of the U.S. government conspired to kill MLK. Indeed, the argument convinced a jury of exactly that in a civil suit brought by the King family against Jowers and the U.S. government. The trial was held in Memphis in 1999, but the Department of Justice, as Pepper explains, buried the verdict beneath an avalanche of lies and distortions, with a little help from its friends in the media.

Most importantly, Pepper makes it clear that assassinations of this sort could happen on a regular basis in Bush’s war-mongering America, where wiping out his political opposition under the guise of fighting terrorism will, if the Imperial wizard has his way, become de rigueur. Quoting Thomas Jefferson, Pepper asserted on C-Span 2’s book show that only through a revolution can we stop the budding fascist dictatorship that is incrementally affixing its jackboot to our collective neck.

Pepper’s ability to capture this revolutionary spirit, which MLK embodied, is the beauty of the book. Even if Pepper never follows some of the most important leads, like, for example, what was CIA agent Marrell McCollough doing on the balcony of the Lorrain Motel while King was lying there dying? McCollough had infiltrated the local black power group, the Invaders, and was part of an Invader-staffed security group that Jesse Jackson allegedly disbursed moments before the assassination. Do we want to know about this? And Pepper doesn’t ask who the other guy was on top of the fire station roof overlooking the Lorrain Motel that fateful day, April 4th 1968? We know Sergeant Greene was there, but who was the guy from the 112th Military Intelligence unit from down in Fort Sam Houston, Texas? Maybe that guy was a CIA assassin!

Even without the answers to these overarching questions, Bill Pepper truly makes a case that it was an Act of State that intentionally silenced Martin Luther King and his message of peace, justice and racial harmony, a message that hasn’t been heard as eloquently for 35 years, and which, only through the voices of modern American revolutionaries will ever be heard again on the airwaves and on network news. Read the book, and be inspired to act against the state.

DOUGLAS VALENTINE is the author of The Hotel Tacloban, The Phoenix Program, and TDY. His new book The Strength of the Wolf: the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 1930-1968 will be published by Verso. Valentine was an investigator for Pepper on the King case in 1998-1999. For information about Valentine and his books and articles, please visit his website at www.douglasvalentine.com

He can be reached at: redspruce@at

Martin Luther King’s Historic Plea to Break the Silence on Militarism

By Dr. Gary G. Kohls

Global Research, January 15, 2014

“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” — Martin Luther King, in his famous speech at the Riverside Church in New York City on April 4, 1967

King’s Riverside Church speech was titled “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence.” It was delivered exactly one year before his April, 4, 1968 assassination in Memphis.

The people who heard that speech recognized it as one of the most powerful speeches ever given articulating the immorality of the Vietnam War and its destructive impact on social progress in the United States. In explaining his decision to follow his conscience and speak out against US militarism, King said:

“I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic destructive suction tube. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such.”

But King went farther, diagnosing the broader disease of militarism and violence that was endangering the soul of the United States.

King said,

“I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government.”

The Poisoning of America’s Soul

King knew very well that the disease of violence was killing off more than social progress in America. Violence was sickening the nation’s soul as well. He added “If America’s soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read ‘Vietnam’.”

King urged his fellow citizens to take up the causes of the world’s oppressed, rather than taking the side of the oppressors.

He said: “I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a ‘thing-oriented’ society to a ‘person-oriented’ society.

“When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.

“We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked and dejected with a lost opportunity.

“We still have a choice today; nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation. We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace and justice throughout the developing world – a world that borders on our doors.

“If we do not act we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality and strength without sight.”

King pointed to an alternate path into the future:

“Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter – but beautiful – struggle for a new world. This is the calling of the sons of God, and our brothers wait eagerly for our response.

“Shall we say the odds are too great? Shall we tell them the struggle is too hard?”

 Signing His Own Death Warrant

By denouncing so forcefully the war crimes that the U.S. military was committing daily in the killing fields of Vietnam, some of King’s followers understood that he had just signed his own death warrant.

But King, being a person of conscience, was compelled to express his deep sense of moral outrage over the horrific maiming, suffering and dying of millions of innocent Vietnamese civilians in that unjust war that afflicted mostly unarmed women and children and that was going to leave behind lethal poisons in the soil, water and unborn babies that would last for generations.

He knew that non-combatants are always the major victims of modern warfare, especially wars that indiscriminately used highly lethal weapons that rained down from the air, especially the U.S. Air Force’s favorite weapon, napalm — the flaming, jellied gasoline that burned the flesh off of whatever part of the burning child it splashed onto.

King also connected the racist acts (of American soldiers joyfully killing dispensable non-white “gooks” and “slants” — often shooting at “anything that moves”) on the battlefields of Southeast Asia to the oppression, impoverishment, imprisoning and lynching of dispensable, deprived non-white “niggers” in America.

King saw the connections between the violence of racism and the violence of poverty. He saw that the withholding of economic and educational opportunities came from the fear of “the other” and the perceived need to protect the white culture’s wealth and privilege – with violence if necessary.

King knew, too, that fortunes are made in every war, and the war in Vietnam was no exception. In his speeches, he talked about that unwelcome reality that the ruling class preferred not be discussed.  That meant his well-attended Riverside Church speech threatened not only the powerful interests already arrayed against his civil rights struggle but also the interests of the war profiteers and the national security establishment.

War Profiteers on Wall Street Know That War is Good Business and That Peace Generates no Profits for Them

The longer the Vietnam War lasted, the more the weapons manufacturers thrived. With their huge profits, there was no incentive for these financial elites to want to stop the carnage. And therefore the Wall Street war profiteers financed, out of their ill-gotten gains, battalions of industry lobbyists and pro-military propagandists, who descended upon Washington, DC and the Pentagon to claim even more tax dollars for weapons research, development and manufacture.

With that funding secured, armies of desperate jobs-seekers were hired to work in thousands of weapons factories that were strategically placed in congressional districts almost everywhere, with weapons research grants likewise being awarded to virtually every university in the nation. Thus, weapons-manufacturing and R & D soon became vitally important for most every legislator’s home district economy as well as for the household budgets of millions of American voters who indirectly benefitted from the US military’s killing, maiming, displacement, starvation and suffering of non-white refugees in war zones that most war workers tried not to think about.

King’s anti-war stance was based on his Christianity and on the ethics and life of Jesus, but it was also based on his standing as a revered international peace and justice icon. Those factors made him a dangerous threat to the military/industrial/congressional/security complex.

The powerful forces that were working hard to discredit King had already infiltrated the civil rights movement. Their efforts, cunningly led by the proto-fascist and racist J. Edgar Hoover and his obedient FBI, accelerated after the Riverside speech. The FBI ramped up the smear campaigns against King and eventually decided to permanently “neutralize” King with a bullet to the head — fired by a paid assassin other that the framed patsy James Earl Ray. (See attorney William F. Pepper’s well researched and documented book, “An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King”, that told the story that absolved Ray and that culminated in the 1999 jury trial that, in a wrongful death suit brought on behalf of the King family, convicted Loyd Jowers and various co-conspirators that included J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI, CIA Director Richard Helms, the CIA, the military, local Memphis police and organized crime figures from New Orleans and Memphis.

The trial was uniformly boycotted by the US media, so most Americans have never heard about it.) For a Pepper interview about the 4 week jury trial, click on:https://archive.org/details/William.Pepper.An.Act.of.State.The.Execution.of.MLK.

King’s Prophetic Vision

Now, almost five decades after his anti-war speech (which was widely kept from the public), it is clear how prophetic King’s observations were. America is indeed losing its soul and violence, racism, militarism and economic oppression are still American epidemics.

Both upper- and middle-class investors of get-rich-quick schemes in America have succumbed to predatory lenders, cannibalistic corporate mergers and acquisitions, psychopathic multinational corporate schemers, corrupt crony capitalists, and the rapist/exploiters of the land and water by extractive industries – all schemes that will eventually tank in the predictable economic bubbles, all of which are destined to burst.

Those busted bubbles regularly wipe out investors (except for the large, deep-pocketed “insiders” who, usually being forewarned, will have sold their holdings just in time, before the publicly revealed “bust”), leaving the taxpayers to bail out the financial messes that were created by the so-called “invisible hand of the market”. (Note: the “invisible hand” myth actually represents cunning operations controlled by conscienceless corporate gamblers whose dirty deals are done in the proverbial “smoke-filled rooms” that guarantee the success of the deal.)

 King was trying to warn us not just about the oncoming epidemic of domestic violence victims but also about the tens of millions of people around the world who were and are still being victimized by U.S. military misadventures.

 King was also warning us about the multinational corporate war profiteers whose interests are facilitated and protected by the US military – whether they are operating in Asia, Latin America, Africa or the Middle East.

Nearly one trillion US tax dollars are lavishly spent every year on endless wars, which are often illegal and unconstitutional. Hundreds of millions of tax dollars are spent annually paying down never-ending interest payments on past military debt. Hundreds of millions of scarce dollars are also being spent on the totally preventable costs of the physical and mental health costs needed for the palliative care for the permanently maimed and psychologically-traumatized veterans.

All those potentially bankrupting costs represent money that will never be available for programs of social uplift like combating racism, poverty and hunger, or paying for affordable housing/healthcare, universal education or meaningful job creation. Can anyone else hear a demonic laugh reverberating down Wall Street?

King was warning America about its oncoming spiritual death if it didn’t convert itself away from military violence. But most observers of the US see America still worshipping at the altars of the Gods of War and Greed. Our children may be doomed.

The vast majority of American Christian churches (whether fundamentalist, conservative, moderate or liberal, with very few exceptions) have failed King’s vision, despite the lip service they sometimes give to King on MLK Day. Churches whose members were brought up on the Myth of American Exceptionalism (and the myth of being “God’s chosen people”) consistently refuse to take a stand against the satanic nature of war.

Is America Past the Point of No Return?

King’s central warnings about the “triple evils” of militarism, racism and economic oppression must be heeded. The financial and moral hemorrhaging from the unending hot and cold wars that have entangled the United States around the globe must be ended. There must be a retreat from the 130 countries where the U.S. maintains budget-busting military bases. And, if America wants to shed the justified label of “Rogue Nation”, the covert killing operations of our secret black ops mercenary military units all around the world must be stopped, as should the infamous extrajudicial assassinations by America’s un-manned drones.

The Pentagon budget averages well over $700 billion per year which amounts to $2 billion per day with no visible return on investment, except for the military contractors, the oil industries and Wall Street financiers.

If King’s 47-year-old warning continues to be ignored, America’s future is bleak. The future holds the dark seeds of economic chaos, hyperinflation, unendurable poverty, increasing racial/minority hostility, worsening malnutrition, armed rebellion, street fighting, and perhaps, ultimately, institution of a reactionary totalitarian/surveillance police state in order to control citizen protests and quell rebellions.

In 1967, many Americans considered King hopeful vision for a better future as irrational idealism. He was told that the task was too great, the obstacles were too imposing and that there was no will for even the churches to reverse their age-old, conservative (pseudo)patriotism and society’s institutional racism. I suspect that many of the churches that called King a communist and therefore ignored him back then wish that they could turn back the clock and give King’s (and Jesus’s) path a try.

King finished his speech with these challenges:

 “War is not the answer. We still have a choice today; nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation. We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace and justice throughout the developing world – a world that borders on our doors. If we do not act we shall surely be dragged down the long dark and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality and strength without sight.”

And he had these sobering words for the churches that are immersed in a polytheistic culture (the worship of multiple gods, including the gods of war and mammon) and thus are tempted to quietly ally themselves with those gods rather than the monotheistic God of Love that King was devoted to:

 “I have traveled the length and breadth of Alabama, Mississippi and all the other southern states. I have looked at her beautiful churches with their lofty spires pointing heavenward. I have beheld the impressive outlay of her massive religious education buildings. Over and over again I have found myself asking: ‘What kind of people worship here? Who is their God?’” 

Today, the task is even tougher, the obstacles much more imposing, but the path that King outlined remains. MLK Day should be a good time to start seriously reconsidering King’s radical message.

Dr Kohls is a retired physician who writes about peace, justice, militarism, mental health and religious issues.

From Google

  MLK's vehement condemnations of US militarism are more ...

www.theguardian.com › Opinion › Barack Obama

The Guardian

Jan 21, 2013 - The civil right achievements of Martin Luther King are quite justly the focus of the annual birthday commemoration of his legacy. But it is ...

Recent OMNI Newsletters (2015): Present Contexts for Reading King

Iran #25, 1-17

Cuba #4, 1-16

Vegetarian Action #15, 1-14

Democracy #3, 1-12

Flag Patriotism #2, 1-9

Fossil Fuels #3, 1-4

Contents January 21, 2013

MLKJr. Events in Fayetteville 2013

MLKJr Monument

King’s 1967 Riverside Speech

Dick: Governor Beebe and True King

Pro-Labor King

Remembering Anti-War King, Veterans for Peace

Who Killed King?  Pepper’s 2003 Book

Contents January 20, 2014

UAF Events Jan. 20-, 2014

Change the Social and Political Structures

King vs. US Bigotry, and PBS Film A Class Divided

King vs. US Wars and Wars

Petition to Pastors Against Wars

Antiwar Resolution

King on Source of Wars: Profits

King on US Capitalism and Poverty

Sent to WS, Blog, OMNI’s Newsletters Group